“And it shall come to pass on the sixth day that they shall prepare” (Exod. 16:5). He who prepares on the Sabbath Eve will eat on the Sabbath.¹ A man should be exceedingly eager to prepare for Sabbath needs, and should hurry enthusiastically like a man who hears that the queen is coming to lodge in his house or that a bride and her entourage are coming to his house. What does he do? He rejoices greatly and says, “What great honor they show me to come within the shadow of my domicile.” He instructs his servants, “Prepare the house, clean it, and sweep it and prepare the beds in honor of the arrivals, and I will purchase for them meat and fish, and whatever else I can acquire in their honor.” He personally engages in the preparation of the dishes, even if he has a thousand servants. Now, what is greater than the Sabbath which is a bride and a queen² and is called “delight.”³ How much more that he, the master, should bother and be the one who prepares, even if he has a hundred slaves as in the case of Raba who salted a mullet for the Sabbath.⁴

footnotes: ¹ Abodah Zarah 3a. ² Baba Kamma 32b. ³ Isaiah 58:13. ⁴ Shabbath 119a.